Power utilities all over the world are heavily investing and deploying Smart Meters to enable two-way meter reading. As an extension of automatic meter infrastructure (AMI), power utilities are investing in home area network (HAN) solutions that will enable them to increase the awareness of energy usage among its customers in an effort to be able to charge its customers Time-of-Use (TOU) rates and manage its loads to prevent rolling black outs or brown outs due to peak usage. Wireless is currently the technology of choice among power utilities as the connectivity solution from under the glass of the Smart Meter to the HAN devices in the home. Although wireless is sufficient in most single-family homes, it becomes more challenging due to range and interferences in various environments such as multi-dwellings buildings, rural areas where the Smart Meter is far from the house as well as homes that are built with cement or steel frame.
From the above, it is seen that techniques for improving AMI and how the Smart Meter connects to HAN is highly desirable.